SHARE

Missing Glade Park woman found safe

A massive search and rescue effort in Glade Park on Thanksgiving day ended on a happy note.

Patricia Osberg, a 78-year-old woman who had spent the night outdoors, was found alive lying between two trees, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department said.

A search and rescue volunteer on an all-terrain vehicle happened to catch a glimpse of the woman out of the corner of his eye, Deputy Ben Carnes said.

“It was blind luck that we stumbled upon her,” he said.

Osberg has Alzheimer’s disease and she was reported missing about 9:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. She was found at about the same time the following day about two miles north of her home in a wooded area with waist-high sagebrush. Osberg was alert and talkative when searchers found her, but she was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital by helicopter because she appeared to have hypothermia and to have sustained some minor injuries, Carnes said.

About 50 search and rescue volunteers put off their holiday plans to assist in the search. Searchers used dogs to track her scent, ATVs and a helicopter during the 24-hour ordeal that had crews searching throughout the night.

Finding Osberg alive was a thrill for weary searchers, Carnes said.

“We were all very happy,” he said. “This is what our search and rescue teams train for. Our goal is to have a happy ending and we met our objective.”